Jan. 5, 2012

Written by

Trevor Hughes

Planning for a new on-campus stadium at CSU in Fort Collins is moving at a frenetic pace, with facilities managers meeting twice-weekly to discuss possible sites and the new athletic director pushing to have the building open for the 2014 football season.

The location of potential sites has not been formally made public by Colorado State University officials.

But three sites have generally been accepted as under consideration with at least some level of seriousness. Potential locations include the area south of Moby Arena, currently home to intramural and practice fields; the parking lot area west of Summit Hall and south of the Academic Village on Pitkin Drive; and south of Prospect on Centre Avenue, near where the new off-campus student housing project The Grove is being built.

Among the considerations for where an on-campus stadium would be built: protecting views from campus west to the foothills, neighborhood impacts and keeping costs down, Frank said. Details about size are still well down the road, but CSU officials promise a "very public process" to discuss the plan.

The first public step in the process will likely be the unveiling of a potential preferred site, along with alternatives. Steve Hultin, CSU's facilities director, said he and his staff have been meeting twice a week to discuss possible locations. He said it's still too early to say which sites are under consideration.

"We're doing the preliminary site evaluations for the president's office and the athletic director," Hultin said on Thursday. "It's a little early too to discuss the sites at this point."

In an interview with KUSA 9News on Wedesday, Athletic Director Jack Graham said he wants to see the stadium open in time for the 2014 football season. He said a stadium will likely cost $100 million-$200 million, with the money coming from private donors.

"I'd love to have us kicking off in September 2014," Graham said.

University officials say an on-campus stadium will energize and engage students and alumni in a way that the 32,500-seat Hughes Stadium several miles west of campus never did. President Tony Frank said a stadium, like other new campus buildings, would help "sell" the university to the public, increasing enrollment, awareness and alumni contributions.

"If we're going to build a building, let's build a building that's inspirational to students, faculty and alumni," he said.